Chicken Naming Contest Info.!

                         Chicken Naming Contest!                       

Name the Chickens of Sprouts Community Garden in Honor of Female Scientists! Open to ALL members of the St. Paul's Community!

Guidelines for Entering:

·       Complete a 4inch X 6inch double-sided card.

·       One side of the card should contain a photo or drawing of the scientist labeled with her name. 

·       The flip side of the card should contain three significant facts about the scientist’s life and accomplishments.

·       Your first and last name should appear at the bottom of either side of the card.

·       Submit your completed card to Mrs. Dimitriades in the Lower School Science Lab by Wednesday, September 28^th!

Chicken names will be selected from the submitted cards and announced in early October.  All entries will be on display in the Lower School Science Lab throughout the school year!

Click here for inspiration!

Sprouts Community Garden Established

It has been a fun and productive summer season at St. Paul's! Teachers from the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools along with support from the administrators and Parents' Association, established Sprouts Community Garden in the courtyard of the Lower School.  Partnering with Josh Rosenstein, founder of Edible Eden Foodscapes, we have designed and maintained a garden based on permaculture principles.

Sprouts consists of native and non-native plants and animals, a compost system, a pond ecosystem and chickens housed in a palatial coop designed and built by Mick Scott (STEM coordinator), Doug Finkel (Woodshop teacher), and our students. The chickens are now laying eggs which have been shared with members of the St. Paul's community.

St. Paul's Summer Camp hosted campers who weeded, watered, harvested and cared for the chickens. Bridges campers participated in weekly workshops where they explored the garden. Fresh produce and eggs have been shared with members of the St. Paul's community. In addition, we have made a number of donations of produce to the Manna House, a food kitchen in Baltimore City.

Recently, we have partnered with a mechanical engineering class at Johns Hopkins University.  The engineering students will be asked to design and build a smart rain barrel which will use sensors to determine the moisture level of soil and release water when the moisture level is deemed too low. We are looking forward to testing the projects that the Hopkins students create for our space!

Sprouts garden is growing with the students at St. Paul's! A Kindergarten through grade twelve curriculum was written this summer so all divisions of the community can utilize the space for experiential learning opportunities,  If you are interested in volunteering to help care for the garden and/or the chickens, please contact Nancy Dimitriades at ndimitriades@stpaulsschool.org

Science Fair 2016

After wrapping up our studies of physical science in the second trimester, the Lower School kicked off the third trimester by celebrating science at the Science Fair! This year, all students in grades kindergarten through fourth were invited to complete an optional science fair project and to attend the fair which included local scientists from our community.  What an exciting and educational event! Special thanks go to our guest scientists including:

Dr. Amy Bennett, mother of St. Paul’s second grade student, Cordelia, and Towson University Professor, along with her colleague Brianna Stinebaugh, who presented a series of hands-on activities demonstrating the structure and function of the brain.

Dr. Vonnie Shields and Dr. Thomas Heinbockel, parents of St. Paul’s second grade student, Torben, and Professors of Neuroscience and Neurobiology who presented a series of hands-on activities demonstrating the brain and building models of neurons using edible items.

Dr. Jamie Guest, father of St. Paul’s second grade student, Caroline, and Johns Hopkins University Professor of Civil Engineering who presented Computer-Aided Design and 3D printing.

Dr. Susan Gearhart, mother of St. Paul’s third grade student, Grace, and surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital who provided students the opportunity to try their hands at surgery! The children will complete tasks using laparoscopic instruments in box trainers.

Dr. Jodi Johnson of Cullaborate, LLC. and parent of two St. Paul’s alumni, who presented honeybees and how to make bumble bee and mason bee houses.

Tim Burkett, husband of St. Paul’s first grade teacher Mrs. Burkett, and Chief Operating Officer at Biohabitats Inc. who demonstrated innovative ecological practices and biomimicry.

Dan Budacz, brother of Mrs. Dimitriades and beekeeper who shared his beekeeping equipment and information about honeybees.

Dr. Frank Summers, Astrophysicist at NASA, who encouraged students to explore the sky and the solar system with WorldWide Telescope software.   

Josh Rosenstein of Edible Eden Baltimore who shared plans for cultivating St. Paul’s community garden and provide students a hands on seeding opportunity for the 2016 growing season!

Dave Thomey and Gustaf Buttar of Bluegrass Quarry who conducted experiments to demonstrate cave formation.

Dr. David Chalfoun, St. Paul’s Upper School Chemistry teacher, who presented a series of experiments demonstrating food chemistry.

Mick Scott, Director of STEM Initiatives at St. Paul’s School and his son, St. Paul’s first grader Henry,and kindergarten student Ben, presented hands on rocketry activities for students to explore.

Sean Tucker, St. Paul’s Upper School Math teacher, presented a series of opportunities for students to explore Robotics.

Upper School Seniors from both St. Paul’s School for Boys and St. Paul’s School for Girls shared their science projects and provided Lower School students with the opportunity to explore the concepts of buoyancy.

A representative from The Franklin Institute presented a series of activities related to Electricity.